First time casting for the 500 S&W...success!

Threemorewishes

Threemorewishes

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Ottawa Ontario Canada
Happy Canada Day!

Today started with going to Parliament Hill to see the flag raising ceremony (tightest security I have ever seen on Canada Day) and ended with cold beer in hand while watching the fireworks from the roof. In between these two related activities was bullet casting for the 500 S&W Magnum. It was my first time casting bullets for a rifled bore and was it ever a learning experience.

The alloy was straight wheel weight that had been processed and poured into a LEE ingot mold last fall.



I melted everything down using a brand new first time in use LEE 10 pound production pot (which leaked), fluxed with some used birthday candles and cast into a used (Thanks Andy!) LEE double cavity 440 grain gas check mold.





Once the mold and the lead was at a good temperature the bullets started to come out in a useable condition. It was interesting to see the effects of a cold mold on hot lead and the opposite of cold lead on a hot mold. It is clear from today's casting session that I will have to get a calibrated pyrometer. I have nicely formed but seriously frosted bullets and nicely formed and shiny bullets. All the funky pills (about 50%) went back into the pot for a future session. Oh, and dropping 440 grain bullets on a terry cloth bed sheet will cause scorching and sticking.

 
jethunter said:
I use cardboard instead of towels to drop the bullets on. Works better for me than a towel.
Nice looking bullets.
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Thanks. I will give cardboard a try.

dakotamar said:
nice, are you going to gascheck them? I drop them onto an old rag, probably cotton. it does burn too.
what are you shooting them out of?
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I will gas check them using copper checks from The Bullet Barn. They are getting shot with a H&R Handi-Rifle.
 
i water drop mine into a 5 gallon pail 2/3rd full with a towel at the bottom. i have it under the table my lead pot is on so i'm not worried about splashes. those look great btw!
 
i will have to try that. i was dropping mine in an ice cream pail but it is too short and i guess the towel at the bottom is a good idea too. mine where getting out of shape from the short drop.

Spawn-Inc said:
i water drop mine into a 5 gallon pail 2/3rd full with a towel at the bottom. i have it under the table my lead pot is on so i'm not worried about splashes. those look great btw!
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I use an old T-shirt over the pail with a sleeve going into the water. Sleeve slows down the bullet and gently deposits it to the bottom.

Problem with the small pails is that they heat up to fast changeling the hardness of the bullet
 
Very interesting that you have posted your success casting for the 500.

With the price of factory bullets for the 500, this is definitely the way to go.

I have cast and reloaded thousands of rounds of 44 mag and 3030 Winchester using cast gas checked bullets, mostly from wheel weights back in the days when wheel weights were mostly lead.

Now that I have both the S&W 460 and 500, the next task is to purchase molds, dies, gas checks and sizer dies.
 
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